Rhymetime Challenge Week One

Look at all of the beautiful snow!  I am so sorry to have cancelled the library session today, but look at all the snow!

Next week is week on of the Book Start Rhymetime Challenge and we will be doing "The Wheels on the Bus".

I came across the Makaton sheet for this and you can find it here.

I also wanted to give a little extra activity and that is for you to draw a picture of a bus.  Really it can be any bus related art project.  If your child likes to scribble in red, great.  If they like to paste pictures of buses, great.  If they want you to draw the picture and have you write a couple of words about a bus trip, that is great too.    (I am so excited about this).

Have fun in the snow.  Stay safe and warm.

See you next week,

Happy New Year

I am hoping everyone got to play in the snow at least for a couple of minutes.  It was nice to have the snow put a couple of hours of calm to the end of the Boxing Day festivities.

I hope everyone will have a safe and Happy New Year and will return ready to sing January 6th and 7th.

Here is the new flier that highlights one change to the Baby Sprout's Music session at the Owlet Centre.  The session will be at 1:30 instead of 2:00.

Auld Lang Syne : Lyrics

From http://www.carols.org.uk/

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Auld Lang Syne – lyrics

Meaning of Auld Lang Syne and Cup O' Kindness
The Meaning of 'Auld' is "Old" and the meaning of 'Lang Syne ' is "Long Since". The lyrics "We'll take a cup o' kindness yet" refers to the tradition of raising a glass, or a cup o' kindness meaning with "good will, friendship and kind regard" and in remembrance of "noble deeds". The custom of drinking a "health" at a special gathering to the prosperity or good health of another dates back into antiquity. The old Christmas term 'Wassail' derives from Old Norse phrase 'ves heill' meaning "be healthy". So next time you sing Auld Lang Syne you'll now know its meaning!

"For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne."

Auld Lang Syne : Meaning of Lyrics
The Auld Lang Syne lyrics actually consist of five verses and this full version of the Poem Auld Lang Syne is featured in the Christmas Poems section, complete with its history, its old origins and the meaning of the ancient Scottish words. The Auld Lang Syne song is traditionally accompanied by people joining hands in friendship as they look forward to the New Year ahead and pledging that whatever changes life may bring that old friends will not be forgotten.

World Rhyme a day Rhyme

While we have a week off, we can all go over the next rhymes.


Old King Cole

Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe
And he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh, there's none so rare
As can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Lyrics taken from babycentre.co.uk




Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and lemons
Say the bells of St. Clements
I owe you five farthings
Say the bells of St. Martins
When will you pay me?
Say the bells at Old Bailey
When I grow rich
Say the bells at Shoreditch
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney
I'm sure I don't know
Says the great bell of Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head

Spoken:
Chip chop chip chop the last man's HEAD!

Lyrics taken from kididdles.com  (Kididdles has an enormous database of children's songs and nursery rhymes.  You can even download the songs and their lyrics and activity sheets and play the music from the site.)

That will take us up to the five rhymes and we're done!

If you want to take the time to find out the origin of the rhymes we recite or sing every wednsday, I found a great site called Nursery Rhymes Lyrics, Origins & History.  It has the history and stories behind children's nursery rhymes, many that we still learn today.  Another interesting site about the origins of some of the most popular nursery rhymes is on brainz.org

World Rhyme a day Challenge

Sorry I am late getting this out.  Our rhyme this week is Hey Diddle Diddle.  There is a tune that goes with this, but I think we will keep it simple and recite the words.

Hey Diddle, Diddle
The Cat and the fiddle.
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little Dog laughed to see such fun.
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

If you are interested in the tune, here is the song on You Tube.

World Rhyme a Day Challenge

Last week we started the World Rhyme a Day Week with Hot Cross Buns.  This week we will do "I Hear Thunder" in celebration of all the fireworks and rain we had this last week.

Here is a You Tube video of the song

Rhyme a Day Challenge

We will be taking part in the Rhyme a Day Challenge in celebration of World Nursery Rhyme Week.  We will go over the rhymes that will be done at home during the week, but because we only get together once a week, we will focus on the rhymes individually each week.

The rhymes are Hey Diddle, Diddle, Five Currant Buns, I Hear Thunder, Old King Cole, Oranges and Lemons.

Here are some things you can do at home to gear up for the rhymes to come on World Nursery Rhyme Week's Pinterest Page and Facebook Page

A little bit of Music Theory

I spend way too much time on Pintrest, but it gives me some good ideas that we can use in Mini Music Makers to make the sessions a little more special.

Music has great ability to help our children achieve well in school.  One area is mathematics and language.

Music has rhythm and that rhythm is linked to time.  All of the rhymes we recite, have certain rhythm and here is when it starts helping us with Math.  When we are playing our instruments at the beginning of the session, we are practising our rhythms and beats.  The beat is the steady tempo that drives the rhythm of the songs.  A great way to understand rhythm is to use the Kodaly Method of putting words to the rhythm.

Now try it with the Itsy, Bitsy, Spider.

The Kodaly Method teaches music by putting a sound to a symbol.  This is the terminology they use:

Let's Play Kid's Music has a great example of practising the difference between rhythm and beat, with a lot of print outs to boot.



I would love to do this with the older kids, using the different sizes of Lego to represent time:

This is great as well:

If you want more information on child development and music in infancy and for toddlers, the Bright Hub Education has loads of information.  It is also a wonderful way to get information about things you can do at home.

If you are looking for more Halloween songs Let's Play Kid's Music doesn't disappoint.